Helene Schjerfbeck
Lemons in a Bowl is a masterpiece from Schjerfbeck's late period and belongs to a series of fruit still lifes she painted from 1915 onwards. As her life became ever more solitary, Schjerfbeck discovered the expressive potential of inanimate objects in her immediate surroundings. In the present work the brightly colored subject emerges from a flattened, almost abstracted space, as Schjerfbeck explores the vibrant color harmonies of the exotic lemons held within the altogether more Finnish masur birch bowl.
As her health weakened in her final years, Schjerfbeck received continued pleas from her dealer (Gösta Stenman) to move to Sweden, which she finally did in February 1944. Schjerfbeck would live out the rest of her life at the Saltsjöbaden spa hotel south-east of Stockholm, where it is likely she completed the present work in 1944. Approaching death, her artistic production acquired a striking new intensity and vigor best demonstrated by the 20 unflinchingly frank and original self-portraits that are among the highlights of her oeuvre.
P.S. Helena Sofia Schjerfbeck is a true female Finnish gem! Read more about this exquisite painter here. <3
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